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RIABiz

Articles published 8/2016


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Nicholas Schorsch's purchase and disgorgement of Cetera was a PR 'dumpster fire' that may not have been fully extinguished.

What to make of Cetera's prolonged CEO murkiness and how the Nicholas Schorsch 'dumpster fire' of bad PR relates to it

RIABiz sources for Friday article stand by contention that Larry Roth will make way for Robert Moore at CEO -- precipitating de facto gag order on 9,000 IBD reps

August 31, 2016 at 10:23 PM

Adam Birenbaum: Each and every partner firm that has joined Focus has gone in with eyes wide open.

Why Focus Financial is risking it all -- including the advantages of privacy and private stock -- for a successful IPO

RIAs are perhaps being held in place by just those two elements, but with $1-billion valuation on the line, the liquidity event is taking on a life of its own

August 30, 2016 at 6:57 PM

Cetera has annointed Robert Moore [seen here in a 2014 photo] its post-scandal standard-bearer

Sources: Larry Roth is out at Cetera, supplanted by ex-LPL president, Robert Moore

A column co-written by Roth and Moore earlier this month hinted to some that Cetera's newly rechristened parent firm is still actively engaged in refurbishing its image

August 26, 2016 at 6:06 PM

Après moi le déluge? Outgoing FINRA chief Rick Ketchum engineered a bold bid for RIA oversight but leaves a flailing organization.

What FINRA's CEO shuffle reveals about its waning viability as the self-funded fox guarding the investor henhouse

As Richard Ketchum departs amid fulsome praise, FINRA's failed bid to make RIAs 'rules based' combined with member unrest leave the SRO in deep dilemma mode

August 25, 2016 at 9:41 PM

Betterment has gone from placards atop NYC cabs to fusion with Uber's ubiquitous mobile app.

Betterment wins Uber account from under the nose of its Silicon Valley robo-rivals

The New York robo-advisor won the mega de facto pension plan of the San Francisco-based hail-a-ride app maker

August 24, 2016 at 1:05 PM

Ben Johnson: This latest filing is the last rabbit that you'd imagine they'd try to pull from the hat.

After Vanguard gains $550-billion ETF lead, Fidelity makes 'rabbit out of the hat' play to regain ground

But even as Boston execs attempt magic, Vanguard makes almost simultaneous ETF move that requires no lagomorphs

August 22, 2016 at 10:54 PM

Mark Casady continues to pull big levers to cut costs, regain momentum and get the stock price back to where it once was.

What to make of LPL freezing the wages of most staffers -- and some reaction to the company's explanation

Cost savings may be less the issue than the desire to turn a page, change a culture and even headhunt Google- and Goldman Sachs-like visionary execs

August 19, 2016 at 3:17 AM

Alan Wolper: The biggest challenge [for FINRA] is finding a way to strike a reasonable balance between being the tough cop on the beat it yearns to convey and an industry association that actually helps its members.

FINRA shifts an unwelcome spotlight away from itself -- by training it on the brokers it oversees

The embattled SRO is spending $3.5 million to advertise BrokerCheck and is requiring its front-and-center placement on firms' websites as public demand for heightened fiduciary care grows

August 17, 2016 at 8:05 PM

Brodie Cobb: I saw a lot of similar-sized very successful firms begin to sell in San Francisco like Constellation, Luminous and Bakers Street and the question is: why?

How Tiedemann and Presidio did a no-cash merger of their $4.9 billion and $4 billion RIAs -- and their disarming honesty about jitters

A restructuring by Presidio's stricken CEO's deputy paved the way for a 'non-threatening' union in which all principals keep their equity

August 16, 2016 at 9:05 PM

Dale Brown via Skype: We filed the lawsuit to win, not to make a statement or lambaste the DOL.

Jaws drop after Dale Brown Skypes keynote address to Laser App conference with the claim: 'We were fiduciary believers long before being a fiduciary was cool'

The FSI chief's comments lit up Twitter then T3's Joel Bruckenstein and cleverDome announced a cybersecurity consortium at the San Diego gathering

August 15, 2016 at 8:03 PM

Matt Fellowes: You have annuity companies coming out with new tools and fund companies but there isn't a solution out there that is really different.

With a 'unicorn' as the stated objective, Morningstar hijacks its own venture founder, backs him with VC funding and sends him out into an annuity world

HelloWallet founder Matt Fellowes left his team with eyes on extracting profits from baby boomers looking to spend down their nest eggs

August 12, 2016 at 5:55 PM

Brooke Southall: Our articles won't be confused with press releases, get obscured by takeover ads, be interrupted by pay walls, or be cheapened by the presence of sponsored content pretending that it's not pretending to be real.

RIABiz turns seven, with a central new 'problem'

With our inauspicious 2009 start year long gone, we see the chance to achieve a bigger destiny as RIAs rise and legacy publications embrace pay-for-play content models

August 10, 2016 at 7:18 PM

Andrew Stern: We had a chance to be in a control position.

Lebenthal breakaways stake out a pricey swath of the Hamptons the better to entice wealthy society types who now live there year-round

YorkBridge Wealth Partners is occupying Lebenthal's old digs in Southhampton, the better to scope out UHNW luminaries

August 9, 2016 at 11:23 PM

Alan Zafran: Luminous nearly doubled assets in the past three-and-a half years under First Republic.

First Republic's $70B-plus RIA roll-up loses four top executives as its contract with Luminous team ticks down

Sources say another Great Hou-Sear Escape could be in the offing based on the team's clannish ways when it comes to technology

August 8, 2016 at 8:10 PM

Anne E. Robinson could be a change agent as Vanguard looks to its future -- one that may involve a rebrand.

What Vanguard's hire of a sizzling Wall Streeter reveals about Bill McNabb's determination to avoid the whiff of stale passivity

Anne Robinson is the new chief counsel reporting to the CEO, but her Citi and AmEx branding expertise and her outsider status hint at the $3.4-billion asset manager's nod to rapid shifts toward market challenges

August 5, 2016 at 7:21 PM

Felipe Luna is touting the signing of 14 independent advisors but notes their $1.7 billion in AUA won't show up as AUM.

CONCERT attracts $1.7 billion of 'AUA' after its AUM attracts the unwanted attention of the SEC

The SEC found that the 'wirehouse lite' company was light on truth about its AUM and made it pay

August 4, 2016 at 10:09 PM

Mike Di Girolamo in his Cucina Sabina: Too often I have seen nice advisors or financial professionals handle their own planning last, not do it, or just do it too late.

What exactly led to a Raymond James lifer morphing into a cooking school proprietor in Italy

Two years into his venture, Mike Di Girolamo tells what went into effecting his mouthwatering second chapter

August 3, 2016 at 5:28 PM

Michael Kitces: They compare to every other RIA that meets with clients using Skype -- which is all of us.

Vanguard virtual RIA's growth rate plummets from 50% to 32% with a staggering consolation -- another $10 billion in AUM since January

Now at $41 billion, up from $31 billion six months before, Vanguard gorged on easy cannibalization but classic RIAs are also losing assets to the Malvern growth engine

August 2, 2016 at 9:30 PM

Dawn Bennett: We weren't an RIA and weren't running our books like an RIA. We were an independent B-D and were doing it correctly that way.

In exclusive RIABiz interview, Dawn Bennett tells how she's striking back at SEC after a $4-million legal drubbing has left her 30-year career in shambles

The advisor and popular radio host has hired the 'London Whale' attorney to prove she and her firm were victims of a regulatory witch hunt

August 1, 2016 at 4:52 PM

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